Goodness, snakes alive!
Tacoma resident Blanche Meiers stunned Metro Parks Board members when she toted her zoo donation into one of their meetings in March 1936.
She came bearing a suitcase full of snakes, plucked one from her bag and handed it to a board member.
“Here, this won’t hurt you, Mr. Christoffersen,” she declared. “Just let him wind around your arm. No, he won’t bite!”
By the end of the meeting, “even the most timid (board) member was able to keep from jumping when a snake wound its body up on his shoulder and snuggled its head near his,” a newspaper account said.
Meiers’ donation included a garter snake, a Boyle’s king snake, two gopher snakes, a lizard and horned toads.
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